Fence



(N0 Mod )v I v I I BERTS.

FENCE.

No. 447,355. Patented Mar. 3, 1891.

. PATENT Price.

JOHN B. ROBERTS, OF CARLTON, NEW YORK.

FENCE.

SIECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,355, dated March 3, 1891.

Application filed April 14, 1890. Serial No. 347,808 (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN B. ROBERTS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Carlton, in the county of Orleans and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fences, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for maintaining the proper tension upon the wires of fences, trellises, and the like; and the invention consists in securing the wires of the fence to what I term an equalizing bar, and connecting the upper and lower ends of said bar with the upper and lower ends of a fiat spring secured at its middle to the fence-post, the point of attachment of the spring to the post being as near as possible to the ground, in order that the leverage may be reduced and the tendency of the wires to loosen the post be overcome to a great extent.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a trellis constructed in accordance with my invention, and Fig. 2 a top plan view of aportion of a fence or series of trellises constructed in accordance with my invention.

A A indicate suitable posts, and B B B the wires, which in the construction of short trellises, &c., will be secured at one end directly to the post A and at the other end to an equalizing-bar 0, arranged close to the .post A, as shown in Fig. 1. This is the simplest way of carrying out this part of my invention; but

in case it should for any cause be found desirable the wires may be attached at both ends to equalizing-bars, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The equalizing-bar 0 consists, merely, of a strong bar to which all the wires B are attached, the bar being arranged close to the face of the post, substantially as shown, whereby the strain that comes upon any one wire will be communicated to the bar, and from the bar to the equalizing-spring hereinafter referred to.

The post A is provided near its upper and lower ends with holes, through which freely pass wires a, said wires being connected at one end to the upper and lower ends of the bar 0 and at the opposite end to the upper and lower ends of a flat spring D, which is secured to that side of the post A opposite the equalizing-bar. The manner of securing this spring to the post is a matter that may be varied considerably without departing from the spirit of my invention; but a simple and efficient means is that illustrated in the drawings, upon reference to which it will be observed that the spring is embraced by staples b, which are driven into the post.

Care should be taken to secure the spring to the post at a point as far removed from the top of the latter as is consistent with the height of the fence and the stilfness of the spring, in order that the strain upon the post, due to the weight of the fence-wires, may exert as little leverage as possible upon the post.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that if either of the posts A or A should be thrown out of position by the frost the spring will take up the slack occasioned by this settling of the post. The equalizingbar will advisably be of such a length as to rest upon the ground, in order to prevent the wires a, which pass through the post, from binding in the holes therein; but in order that the accumulation of dirt, &c., may not interfere with the proper movement of this equalizing-bar it will be found advisable to place a piece of wood beneath the bar, upon which it may rest and slide.

Upon reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the post A has two spring-plates and attendant parts, one set of fence-wires extending from one side of the post and the other set of fence-wires extending from the opposite side, thus obviating the necessity of using two separate sets of posts for each section of fence and enabling me to apply the spring more frequently throughout the length of the fence.

In constructing fences they may be set up in the ordinary manner and the tension devices herein described applied only to one or to both ends of the wires regardless of their length; or if greater sensitiveness is desired the fence-wires may be made shorter and the tension devices applied to the ends of short sections of fence, as shown in Fig. 2.

I am aware thatfences have been provided with permanent tension devices, and to such an idea no broad claim is made.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a fence, the combination, with the posts A A, of the wires B, secured at one end to one of the posts and at the opposite end to an equalizing-bar O, a spring-plate sec ured to the other post, and wires connecting the ends of the spring-plate with the ends of the equalizing-bar.

2. In combination with a post, the wires B B, and an equalizing-bar C, a spring-plate D, secured to the post, and a connection between the ends of the bar and spring-plate, all substantially as shown. 

